“Against the implied fantasy of a masterful, separate actor, what is highlighted is the activity of all the associated actors involved. A strategist may be inventive, but no-body acts alone.” (Mol, 2010)

Critical Policy Research in Education Lab (CPREL)

Our work in policy research and design is informed by thinking about policy networks and assemblages. In our work we are intrigued by how policies come together through the ways different levels and sectors of actors engage in policy work.

Policy scholars Cris Shore & Susan Wright articulate a view of policy that we share: “Policies are not simply instrumental governmental tools – they are actants that have agency and that change as they enter into relatons with actors, objects and institutions in new domains. The challenge is to study policies as they develop and as they are enacted in everyday practice” (Shore & Wright, 2011)

Dr. Melody Viczko

Dr. Melody Viczko is an associate professor in critical policy studies in education at Western University. Her research examines multi-scalar governance in the study of how different levels of policy actors work together to make policy happen.

“A policy finds expression through sequences of events; it creates new social and semantic spaces, new sets of relations, new political subjects and new webs of meaning.” (Shore & Wright, 2011)

Explore our five research areas: